Boiling Tensions
by Coleiosis
Summary: This is it! Ratchet is more than eager to bring Calypso back on track. But how can he do it if Gigadis is wreaking his vengeance upon him for stealing away Pupuru? Rated T-M for scary and sad situations, blood, and mild violence


PlayStation All-Stars: Breaking Reckoning

Part Six: Boiling Tensions

By Cole Bezotte

"It's about time that it all came to an end! After all the selfish things I've done in the past, and after all the ignorant things I've said, it's about time that I took my love and kindness to a whole new level! I've been running away from my people in a raspy old ship, hidden from all the galaxies that I've known. I shall hide no longer! Instead, I'll finally bring an end to all this evil that has engulfed the one planet that I have been blind from: Earth! I am Ratchet, son of Kaden, and I am now the new hero of Earth! Here I am, world! This is who I am now! I'm coming to save you!" -Ratchet

Gigadis stood on his new giant structure, waiting for Pupuru to speak up and say what she needed. As he watched her approach silently, a sudden feeling of deep emotion and love touched his heart like a knife stabbed through his chest. He rushed towards Pupuru, eager to finally meet up with the love of his life. "So you've finally come to me after all," he spoke up. "Now you finally understand."

But right when Gigadis reached out his arms to embrace Pupuru in a hug, Pupuru smacked him away and rejected it. "NO!" she exclaimed. "Don't start with me! I already understand what you've been doing this whole time!"

"Ah, so you now know what I've been building," Gigadis replied. "Look all around you, my sweet! I am building a new kingdom for just the two of us! Our worst enemies (Needles and Club Kid) are under my spell. I have bent them to my will to obey my every whim and command; so as my first decree, they were ordered to build to our new kingdom and become our forever slaves. Once they are finished, their purposes will be served. It will be just the two of us, as king and queen of Earth!"

"But how can I trust you, Gigadis?!" Pupuru cried with tears streaming down her face. "How can I trust you if all you care about is death and destruction?! I saw what you did to Sasha; I saw it out in the open! You can't deny it!"

"But I did it for you, my darling! She was in our way of success! I had to do it! I'm doing all this for you and you alone! You just have to believe me! The people of Earth can also obey YOUR commands as well as mine! You can protect anyone you love; even the Los Angeles Apple Orphanage. You can save the children all you want! You can even have Ratchet as your servant if you like!"

"But why can't I love my friends equally?! It's too late, Gigadis! YOU'RE too late! Ratchet told me everything! He told me what you had planned inside your dark and evil heart!"

"I don't understand. What did he tell you?!"

"He told me… he told me…" Pupuru staggered. She began to feel herself trembling at this pain in her throat that she already felt once she arrived.

"What is it?! SPIT IT OUT!"

Struggling, Pupuru merely whispered the answer in Gigadis' ear: "He told me… all about you. How you had slain innocent people… children… of this world."

Gigadis' true intention was indeed real. He had been using Primeval to destroy the buildings of Los Angeles so that they could be replaced with the castles of the new kingdom. But Primeval and Gigadis had gotten too far as to also kill the inhabitants of the city as well. Gigadis looked up and saw Ratchet standing straight ahead. "YOU!" Gigadis shouted at him. "I know what you're doing!"

Ratchet did not answer him. Instead, he stood there, slowly reaching for his Omniwrench to draw it out. Commander Mason had provided him with it before climbing up here onto the giant structure.

"You taking this pitiful girl out of my life, you son of a-" Gigadis continued.

But Ratchet cut him off and interrupted him: "It was for your own good!" he replied. "BOTH of you! Pupuru never had feelings for you, demon! And she never will!"

"You brought her against me!" Gigadis hissed as he held Pupuru by the neck. "You told her everything just to make her hate me!"

"Let the girl go now!" Ratchet said as his rage began to cloud his head.

"Look around you, Ratchet! I would've built a new Fastoon with all this!"

"Don't lie, Gigadis! You cannot hide your true intentions! Pupuru chooses what boy she wants; you cannot force her to marry you!"

"This is all I ever wanted, you fool! I wanted this to happen!" Gigadis squeezed Pupuru's neck even more out of his own insanity and madness.

"LET HER GO!" Ratchet shouted as he charged towards Gigadis, Omniwrench in hand. With his wrench, he managed to pry Gigadis' hand away from Pupuru's neck, leaving Pupuru coughing from the choke that the evildoer had inflicted on her. Not noticing that she was on the edge of the wall, she fell straight towards the ground, filled with fear and hopelessness. But Commander Mason was there at the time that the tensions began to mount and pain being inflicted upon one another. He held out his arms and caught the girl safely.

"You're safe now, little one," Mason spoke up to her. "But I'm afraid that your business here… is done. Kuu has been worried sick about you and wants you back home. Let's go."

"But…" Pupuru replied. "But what about Ratchet? I can't leave him here… to die!" She looked up at Ratchet and Gigadis fighting on top of the structure, with more tears of sadness streaming down her poor young face. Perhaps this would be the last time that she would ever see her dear friend, locked in a battle against himself.

"I will watch for him," Mason said. "I'm afraid you might night be able to see him again."

As Mason carried Pupuru away, Ratchet and Gigadis stood face-to-face with each other with their weapons in their hands. After hypnotizing Needles, Gigadis managed to get his hands on his machete for use in combat. As Gigadis made the first swing of his knife, Ratchet raised his Omniwrench, throwing away Gigadis' move. "Look down there!" Gigadis continued. "Look and see how you made my love go away from here! I had it all perfect, and yet you ruined everything!"

"Perhaps it's better this way," Ratchet replied as he saw Mason taking Pupuru away from the scene. "I really hate to see her go, but it's the only thing left to do. Perhaps she is not safe here; not with all this evil and chaos that you're causing!"

"Honestly, you Lombax fool! I am not the one in danger here! Look up, Ratchet, and see that Calypso has arrived!" Gigadis pointed upward, showing Ratchet that Calypso was above the city in his flying blimp. It hovered above the city of Los Angeles, just like it did in the Twisted Metal times of years ago. Ratchet looked up and saw that score was about to settle, just like he and Mason swore. But the more he looked, the more excited Gigadis became. It was also a diversion for Gigadis to make a powerful move to snuff the breath of life out of Ratchet.

Gigadis right away stabbed right through Ratchet's chest, piercing his weak body. Ratchet felt like he lost all of his breath after that painful and powerful stab that his opponent had made. Blood stained the exact spot on his chest that Gigadis made his move on. It felt like the end for our hero Lombax. Could it be?

NO! At full force, trying to ignore the pain in his broken chest, Ratchet pushed Gigadis to the side and headed straight for Calypso's blimp. He saw that a ladder was hung down from the bottom, so he would be able to climb it and reach through the hole at the bottom floor of the blimp. Ratchet forced himself to climb the wobbly ladder so that he would finally reach his destination: bringing William Sparks back to the light.

Once Ratchet finally made it inside the blimp, he felt that his heart was dying out. This was perhaps the first time that he experienced death for the first time. Slowly, he slumped to the floor and started crawling across, trying to reach were Calypso was. "I have to reach him!" Ratchet thought to himself in his dying head. "I have to bring him back!"

Meanwhile, Calypso was in his office, talking on his telephone with that robot pop-singer Courtney Gears. "I must say, you have the most fabulous voice I've ever heard!" he spoke through the phone. "We would indeed make a great team, making the new Twisted Theme of my great competition!" But once he saw Ratchet burst through the door of his office, he was surprised to see that Ratchet had survived the stab that Gigadis had inflicted on him. "Will you hold on for a quick moment, Miss Gears? There is a dying corpse that just burst into my office, and he's ready to rot on my floor. See you later!" With that, he hung up his phone and started looking at the dying Ratchet writhing in agony on the floor. "Look at you!" he exclaimed with a smile on his face. "How delightful it is seeing you die just when I want you to!"

"Not a chance, William!" Ratchet replied as he clutched at his bleeding chest. "We have a lot to settle with… before I move on to the most stage in life!"

"Well it looks like you won't be able to make it before telling me the important stuff. I've seen you suffer before, but I've never seen you suffer something like THIS! This is amazing!"

"I'll tell you what's amazing!" Ratchet hissed. "I know the secrets to your childhood! I found your family!" With that, Ratchet pulled something very surprising out of his pocket. It was THE RING OF SOULS!

Calypso was startled when he saw that Ratchet had it with him this whole time. "What?! Where did you get that?!"

Ratchet explained as best as he could: "After that ordeal with my father and Charlie Kane, Mr. Grimm thought he lost this. But he didn't! I stole it from him after that warp explosion! And yet, there is more to these warp explosions than meets the eye. What you and Needles/Marcus Kane had done while fighting over the ring actually caused THE FIRST WARP EXPLOSION! It must have been the thing that somewhat ended your rivalry with him. Although, he still treated you like an enemy. The SECOND warp explosion was Mr. Ash trying to bring power back into this ring. Then the THIRD was my father fighting over it with Mr. Grimm. It all makes sense now, William! This ring still contains the souls of your ENTIRE FAMILY! It has your mother, father, wife, daughter, and sister!"

"Stop it, Ratchet! Just stop it! I will hear no more about this!"

"But you should, William! Don't you even remember?! You are the one responsible for killing your own sister! During your childhood, you killed her with your father's car! That was not like you!"

"Why are you bringing this up when I was evil pretty much my entire life?!"

"YOUR FAMILY LOVES YOU! I DO TOO!"

"Are you insane?! How can anyone love me if all I've done is death and destruction?!"

"There you go, William! That's your soft side talking! I always knew you would still have good in you! Even your daughter Krista knew so!"

"I said stop it, you fool! I don't want to hear any more about this! My daughter always hated me because of my deed of chaos and violence! She would never forgive me!"

"You used her for your contest, William! What happened to the loving father that she once knew?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

"No more!" Calypso barked as he drew out a pistol and started shooting at Ratchet out of his anger. But he only managed to get Ratchet's shoulders and across his head. "Stand still, blast you! I will end you!"

"You were too soft!" Ratchet replied as he lied there on the floor. "You're too hesitant to shoot me! It must be working! You're holding back from your deed of death!"

"Surely you lie! Give me the ring now, or I'll… I'll…"

"You've got nothing…" Ratchet moaned as he came closest to his death. "It's… it's over…" He felt himself blackening away, about to enter the most painful moment in life. He dropped the Ring of Souls onto the floor, letting it tumble in front of Calypso.

Calypso leaned closer toward the ring, almost hesitant to pick up the accursed thing. "This has something… that would haunt me forever!" He moaned. "I can't even bear to look at it!"

Soon, Calypso heard a familiar-sounding voice speak from somewhere in the air. He recognized it as his daughter's, speaking to him: "Daddy, you mustn't do this! The world does not want this! We need you back!" Calypso heard the voice of Krista coming from the ring. Soon, other souls spoke to him; voices that reminded him too much of his childhood.

"William! Why!? Why must you do such cruel things to our world?! Why must you put death upon the earth?!" said another voice. Calypso's heart leaped once he recognized whose voice it was.

"MY SISTER! NOOOOOOOOOO!" Calypso screamed after hearing what it said. Out of his grief, he kicked the ring across the room out of anger and slapped his face into his hands. "This is all… my… fault!"

"I knew…" Ratchet whimpered as he was about to breathe his last, "you could do it… William…" His eyes closed, close to the doom that would drag him into its dark world.

"Ratchet!" Calypso exclaimed as he saw him dying on the floor. "Ratchet! Speak to me! Please!"

"You might as well forget about it!" Spoke a voice as someone entered into the office. "He's dead now, thanks to me!" It was Gigadis, bending down to pick up the Ring of Souls. "And now I shall receive this ring and use it to grant my very wish! I want Pupuru as my bride here and now!" He placed it onto his finger and looked deep into it, feeling the power surge through his veins.

Calypso caught sight of Gigadis and had to do something quick. Like a madman, he ran straight towards Gigadis and tried to pry the ring from his hand. "Hands off that ring, fool! I want my family back!"

"What's gotten into you, Calypso?!" Gigadis replied as he pushed Calypso away. "Are we going to build this new kingdom or not?! Stone has already failed our plan, so now it's up to just the two of us!"

"I'm afraid your kingdom will be burnt down, evil one! Give me the ring now!" Calypso kept on fighting with Gigadis over the Ring of Souls just like he did when he fought over it with Needles/Marcus. Pretty soon, yellow swirls of energy surrounded the place, brightening it with bright lights.

"Stop it, Calypso!" Gigadis exclaimed. "You don't know what you're doing! You'll cause the FOURTH WARP EXPLOSION!"

"I am willing to do anything to bring my family back to me! And Ratchet is the one who cares about me most! Hand over the ring now!"

"NO! NOOOOO!" Gigadis screamed as the lights finally exploded. Everything went white for about one minute before it all calmed down. Everyone lied on the floor of the blimp, still flying above the city. One Gigadis woke back up, he looked out the window to see that his new kingdom had now been burned down to nothing but rubble. "My beautiful city!" he moaned. "It's all gone!"

"You'll never get it back," Calypso replied as he got back up. "Let us hope that it remains that way. Keep looking out there, demon. Tell me what you see."

Gigadis saw everything else unfold right before his eyes; the three vehicles used by the three most important Underworld creatures came back into action. But they no longer worked; they lost their fuel, oil, gas, and weapons to provide them. Pretty soon, all the other good guys came pouring in, driving their vehicles and ramming them upon the three Underworld creatures. Mister Ash, Minion, and Black, were dragged out of their vehicles by Commander Mason and Agent Shepard. Primeval was taken away as well. "This will be the last time that you step foot upon this city," Shepard spoke up. "Return to the dark depths from whence you came from, and never return again!"

Later, Nathan Drake came climbing into the blimp, searching for Ratchet. "I hope he's alright," he thought to himself. "If he didn't survive this, I'll never be responsible for another life! I'll never forgive myself for what happened!" He searched everywhere to find Calypso's office until he finally found it. He opened the door and found Calypso binding up Gigadis' hands behind his back. "Somebody better get me an eye doctor," Nathan spoke up as he saw this. "I'm seeing things!"

"You're wrong, Nathan," Calypso replied. "Gigadis' scheme has been defeated."

"That's nice and all, but how is Ratchet?" Nathan ran over to Ratchet lying on the floor, still with his eyes closed. "Oh no! Don't tell me he's dead!"

But Ratchet was not dead anymore; the warp explosion definitely changed things, so was back to being alive and healthy. He opened his eyes and saw that Nathan was happy to see him alive and well.

After things were settled, Gigadis was taken back to his realm, while the remains of his new structure were being swept away by a construction crew (some witnesses say that Auger was involved in the cleaning). Needles and Club Kid were arrested as well, and being taken into Carl Roberts' police car.

Before the door was closed on him, Needles heard a familiar-sounding voice speak to him. He looked up and saw that his first victim was standing right in front of him. "What if it isn't Marcus Kane?! I thought you were dead after I left your body and took over Ratchet's!"

"I was indeed," Marcus replied. "But thanks to that warp explosion, I'm back! Back to being nice with a heart of love and compassion! This is my new of saying that I am a FREE MAN!" (We've heard him talk about that subject way back in our very first story)

"Free man, he says?!" Needles muttered. "Perhaps I should regret using that phrase again. It has already reached the ears of Ratchet. And I certainly hope I don't get another Bible from you." The door of the police car was shut, capturing him inside and being taken away to the L.A.P.D.'s prison building.

"Why should he not hope so?" Marcus asked himself. "After all, what the Bible says is truth."

Meanwhile, after Nathan, Ratchet, Calypso, and Gigadis came down from the blimp, they got a very shocking surprise once they saw that the real Marcus Kane was standing there on the streets, in the flesh. But the thing that made Ratchet happy the most was the sight of his true love; Sasha Phyronix had come back from being dead. She was alive again; Gigadis' plot to assassinate her had now failed.

Once things were settled, everybody had a good talk over it and about the whole day. But it was still nighttime; things had to settle down until tomorrow. "Hold everything!" Ratchet announced before everyone departed. "Before we all take off, I have something to say to William here."

Calypso looked a bit worried at this announcement. "I suppose you're going to arrest me because of all the evil deeds that I have done," he replied

"No, William," Ratchet assured, smiling softly. "Some would say that it's would I should do, but I won't. I'm letting you go because you have finally faced up for what you have done. We still love you." He held up the Ring of Souls, seeing that a shiny gleam has brightened up the scenery. The fourth warp explosion had changed everything. "Your family must be proud of you," Ratchet continued.

"How can this be? How noble of you, big-hearted and generous Ratchet, tossing a crumb of freedom to a lowly crook!"

"I hope I don't regret what I've done. I hope that there are no cold feet involved in releasing you."

"Cold feet!" Calypso said as he smiled. "You shouldn't worry too much about this. Thank you, Ratchet! And one day, I'll personally demonstrate my gratitude for you!"

"I say you're a bit cracked, William. A good psychiatrist along the way will help straighten things out."

As Calypso walked away from the crowd, heading towards a place to live and hide, he kept on thinking about the phrase that Ratchet dropped. "Cold feet! Ha ha! The whole world will someday remember what you said… as I no longer show myself in front of the public!"

Nathan Drake watched as Calypso walked away, feeling doubtful about Ratchet's decision. "Something tells me you're nutty as him for letting him go."

"I don't know, Nathan," Ratchet replied. "But it was the best that I could do. So long as he doesn't recreate his Twisted Metal contest. This competition is over for good! The enemy is defeated! The danger is past!" And so it was said; Ratchet has finally accomplished the task that he always wanted to do: bring back Marcus Kane and William Sparks.

Later, after the ordeal with Calypso and the rest of the situation, the League of Heroes went back to their main house and took a long, good rest to fulfill the rest of the night. The next morning, Ratchet was the first to wake up, looking out his window and seeing the beautiful scenery of a spring morning. "Is this really how things have to be?" he thought to himself. "There were so many things that I have not done in order to save Earth. I didn't free Needles' prisoners; Sackboy did. I didn't save the Opposite Dimension; Charlie Kane's opposite did. And I didn't save Los Angeles from the Tyhrranoid invasion; Kratos did. And I didn't stop Primeval (Needles controlling his mind) in his game of destruction; the L.A.P.D. did. There were so many things that I have not done to save the Earth.

"But there is one thing in particular that I succeeded at doing: I finally brought William back to his senses. He now knows how much his family loves him, and how he should love them in return. But suddenly, I keep on asking myself: is it a complete success? It HAS to be. Someday, I will do something very heroic to save this planet and my friends. There will be a time when the moment will happen!"

**THE END!**


End file.
